SoxonAle 26

Your FREE guide to real ale and pubs in South Oxfordshire

Summer 2015

Issue 26 |www.soxoncamra.org.uk

Woodcote Rally Beer Festival 11th - 12th July

Also Inside: Maris Otter barley • Cuban beer revolution Ale drinking in Acton • Local and national news

LOCAL NEWS The annual Woodcote Rally is fast approaching. It’s been going now for over 50 years and as usual will feature steam traction engines, vintage cars, static displays and all manner of sideshows. For most of that time your South Oxfordshire Branch of CAMRA has operated the beer tent. Well over £400k has been raised for charities, and the SOX beer tent is one of the main contributors. As ever, we’ve ordered a great range of beers (many from local brewers but with a good sprinkling of others from further away), local ciders plus lager and wine. Our volunteer staff look forward to welcoming thirsty rally-goers again. The beer menu is included in the centre pages of this magazine.

Miller of Mansfield artwork to follow

The Rally runs over the weekend of the 11th and 12th of July.

See www.woodcoterally.org.uk for details of all the events.

Pub news in South Oxfordshire features the some longrunning stories and a couple of newcomers ....

Cray’s Pond, near Woodcote, has been without its pub since August 2013 when Greene King sold the White Lion through a London commercial property agent. The new owner started to develop the pub into a dwelling without first bothering to obtain planning permission. Many local made representations to the planning authorities contesting the owner’s justification and the adverse effect his actions are having on the local community. SODC received 60 written objections to South Oxfordshire District Council and a 400+ signature petition.

The community’s fight to win back the White Lion is now entering the final stages. In July 2014, SODC served an enforcement notice on the owner which he subsequently appealed against and the enforcement is now on hold. His appeal was due to be held in January 2015 but, because of the large amount of local interest, the Planning Inspector decided to change the type of appeal to a Public Hearing. For supporters of the pub it’s a chance to voice opinion and save the White Lion. The Public Hearing will be held at 10am on the 16th June Continued on page 4

Published every three months by the South Oxfordshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale © CAMRA 2015 SoxonAle is produced and distributed by members of the branch in their own time.

Views expressed in SoxonAle are not necessarily those of the editor, publisher or of CAMRA. Edited by: Paul Dixon Email: contact@soxoncamra.org.uk.

Design & Production: Daniel Speed - Orchard House Media Ltd 01778 382758 Email: info@orchardhousemedia.co.uk Advertising: For advertising enquiries please contact Jane Michelson on: 07732 393 621 01778 382718 jane@orchardhousemedia.co.uk Distribution: 3,000 copies / four times a year Got a short pint?

If you believe that you have been treated unfairly in a pub, club or bar, you should contact the Trading Standards service by writing to them at Oxfordshire Trading Standards, Graham Hill House, Electric Avenue, Ferry Hinksey Rd, Oxford OX2 0BY or call them on 0845 051 0845.

A wide range of consumer information and advice is also available online from the Consumer Direct website at www.consumerdirect.gov.uk

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale is an independent, voluntary organisation campaigning for real ale, community pubs and consumer rights.

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Local News - continued

in the Fountain Conference Centre, Howbery Business Park in Crowmarsh Gifford, OX10 8BA. This is after SoxonAle goes to print, so we will report the outcome in the September issue.

The Half Moon, Cuxham, was closed by Brakspear nine months ago. The villagers succeeded in having it declared an Asset of Community Value (ACV) which gave them a breathing-space of six months to raise the money and buy it as a community pub. As it turned out, they were unable to raise enough funds within the time allowed. But on the plus-side, Brakspear has accepted an offer from an individual who, it is believed, intends to reopen it and run it as a pub.

After being successful for many years the Crown, South Moreton, went through a bad patch with frequent changes of tenant and intermittent closure. A period of stability followed and things started to look up, though it wasn’t helped by the extended closure of Fulscot Bridge which carries one of the main roads into the village. It’s recently been taken on by Jane and Mike Binyon. In 1996 Jane and Mike trained with Gibbs Mew and had their first pub with them. (Gibbs Mew was absorbed into the Marston group around 2000.) They then had a pub with Ushers. (Ushers went the same route as Gibbs Mew!). After that they joined Wadworth and had the Prince of Wales in Shrivenham from 2000 to 2010. During that time they were in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide for eight years and also won the branch Pub of the Year award. Following a spell in a GBG free-house near Dorking they’re back in a Wadworth pub. They aim to keep the Crown traditional, with good value and good quality homemade food. Regular events include a weekly Wednesday quiz, two darts teams, Aunt Sally, monthly live music and food nights.

Local News - continued

But on a brighter note, Didcot’s Wheatsheaf in the Wantage Road has finished its refit and is looking pretty good. The outside has been freshened up, and the inside has been completely redesigned and a new kitchen added.

Of particular interest is a large colour mural expressing the town’s long connection with the railways. What hasn’t changed is the wide and varying selection of ales.

A planning application has been submitted to change part of the White Hart Hotel, Dorchester, into private dwellings. This will mean that the original 1591 White Hart Inn, which was the coaching inn, would be converted from hotel space and become a private house along with two other Grade II listed three-bedroom houses on that side of the plot. The bar in the old White Hart Inn part of the business was closed some years ago and changed into a meeting room, the bar being moved into what was an adjacent bakers shop. This bar will continue to operate, along with the restaurant behind the bar and a downsized 11 bed hotel with "boutique" bedrooms. Further, the project proposes three new-build terraced houses in the car park. Parking is bad enough in Dorchester already!

Continued on page 6

But the news is less promising for another Crown, this one in Didcot. A planning application has been submitted to South Oxfordshire District Council for its demolition and replacement with five terraced houses plus another detached one. It has to be said that the Crown is (was?) an unremarkable estate pub dating from the mid-50s. It was wet-sales only which for a pub in this situation can be a challenge these days. It’s not been helped by the fact that there appears to have been little or no attempt to maintain it, so inevitably it’s become pretty shabby and run down. The viability assessment submitted in support of the planning application indicates that the Crown barely made any money in its last year of trading.

There’s little evidence of any local opposition to the planning application – just a couple comments from people who are concerned about car parking arrangements with the additional houses.

At the time of writing the Wallingford Arms, also in Didcot, has been shut for some weeks and may be yet another candidate for closure. On one hand it could be argued that this wouldn’t matter because, again, it has been allowed to become pretty scruffy. But, as we noted in the last SoxonAle, the pub situation in Didcot is becoming increasingly dire. It has only 5% of South Oxfordshire’s pubs but 20% of the population: a figure due to increase to 25% within a few years.

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Local News - continued

Local News - continued

Still in Henley, Brakspear is supporting Henley in Bloom for a second year with its seasonal ale Blooming Marvellous, which will be available in its pubs from 1st June. For every pint of the 4.3% ABV golden ale sold during June, Brakspear will donate 20p to the campaign. With input from the Henley in Bloom committee, Blooming Marvellous was first brewed last year at Brakspear’s Bell Street Brewery. Light and refreshing, it proved a popular drink in pub gardens and at the end of the summer Brakspear donated £800 to Henley in Bloom.

The Argyll Pub & Kitchen

Serving fine ales and home cooked food for 250 years.

Come and visit our famous pub where two episodes of the tv series ‘Midsomer Murders’ have been filmed. Join our friendly locals for a drink or enjoy a fantastic meal.

In something of a coup, Richard Benyon MP chose West Berkshire Brewery’s Mister Chubbs to be the week’s guest ale in the Stranger’s Bar in the House of Commons. SOX inhabitants will be familiar with this ale, since it can be frequently found in our area. West Berks was also official ale supplier to this year’s PGA Championship at Wentworth, supplying their Saazbrucker Pilsner and flagship ale Good Old Boy. West Berks ales will also be available at an even more prestigious event in July: namely, the SOX beer tent at the Woodcote Rally.

On offer is top quality home cooked food, including fillet, rib eye and sirloin steaks, old English sausage and mash along with homemade vegetarian options, sea bass, salmon and traditional fish and chips.

Sunday roasts are a specialty.

The Argyll Public House 15 Market Place, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 2AA.

For bookings call: 01491 573 400 www.theargyllhenley.co.uk

The Argyll Pub & Kitchen

The second Henley Club to Pub Swim is taking place on Saturday 25 July and brewer and pub operator Brakspear is helping to recruit swimmers by covering the entry cost for its licensees and by providing a bottle of commemorative Two Bells beer for all who complete the 1.5 km course. Two Bells, a 3.7% ABV golden ale specially brewed by Brakspear to mark the event, is also being made available in cask this year and will be on sale in Henley’s pubs at the time of the swim.Brakspear is once again providing all swimmers with a bottle of the commemorative Two Bells beer and putting on a barbecue and party at the Angel on the Bridge for all who finish the course and their supporters.

This year’s swim will follow the same course as in 2014, with competitors swimming upstream from Henley Rowing Club to Marsh Lock and then down to the Angel on the Bridge. Swimmers will start on the 7pm chime of St. Mary the Virgin church, with the aim of finishing before the bells ring at 8pm.

To enter visit www.brakspear.co.uk/swim

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West Berks continues its programme of special beers: June Yaffle (4.1% ABV). Pale in colour with a full hop flavour. The yaffle or green woodpecker can be seen and frequently heard in the Berkshire woodlands - first brewed in 2005.

July/Aug Double Decadence (4.5%ABV): a cask special to mark West Berks’ 20th anniversary, also in bottle.

Sept/Oct Blindside Flanker (4.3%ABV): brewed for the forthcoming Rugby World Cup.

Forthcoming brewery tours are on: 27th June, 11th July and 25th July. And you might like to know that the brewery shop (just outside Yattendon) is now open from 9-5, Monday to Saturday.

The SOX Branch holds a meeting on the first Wednesday of each month and a social evening on the third Thursday. We vary the venues to cover as much of the Branch’s (quite extensive) territory. For news and events take a look at the Branch website: www.soxoncamra.org.uk. Alternatively email us at contact@soxoncamra.org.uk.

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NATIONAL NEWS For the third Budget in a row the tax on beer has been cut by a penny a pint. The cut follows extensive CAMRA campaigning to highlight the positive impact of Chancellor George Osborne’s first two penny-off-a-pint cuts and, more importantly, axing the Beer Duty Escalator. The last two cuts have already had a huge impact, saving more than 1,000 pubs from closure and keeping the price of a pub pint down. Independent research forecasts the price of a pub pint will now be more than 20p cheaper than it would have been had the duty escalator remained in place. The chancellor announced some good news for cider and perry drinkers too, cutting the excise duty by 2%.

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill has been passed, which makes law the introduction of a pubs code and adjudicator. From next year, tied tenants with companies owning more than 500 pubs will have the choice of a market rent only (MRO) option. So, tenants of large pubcos will have the right, at review or renewal, to request an independent assessment of their rent and opt to pay that. (The reforms do not mean the end of the beer tie.) The new law will also allow tenants to buy beer on the open market, saving about 60p a pint. The reforms will be phased in over five years alongside rent reviews and lease renewals or after significant price rises and will take into account competition in the local market.

Pubs in England listed as Assets of Community Value (ACV) have greater protection after new rules came in to force on 6th April. The change comes after extensive CAMRA campaigning, which included 4,000 members lobbying their MPs. The amendments to permitted development rules aim to ensure pubs listed as ACVs cannot be demolished or converted to retail and other uses without planning permission. The changes will enable local authorities to assess planning applications against national and local policies. This should go some way to stem the flow of pubs lost to conversion to convenience stores. Although CAMRA hoped to see permitted development rights removed from all public houses, the changes will substantially increase protection to pubs.

It gives local authorities the ability to reference adopted policies which will lead to informed and democratic decision making.

The changes can be summarised as follows: Pubs listed as ACVs will require planning permission to change their use or be demolished.

This includes pubs already listed as ACVs. In addition to this planning permission will be required to change the use or demolish a pub from the point of nomination. CAMRA requested this to be included in the amendments and the Government obliged.

Planning permission will be required for change of use and or demolition for the period that the pub is listed which is five years from the date of listing.

As part of the changes, pub owners and developers will be required to ascertain whether pubs not on the asset list have actually been nominated. This must be done formally in writing.

The local authority has 56 days to confirm whether the pub is listed or nominated. This means that the owner cannot change use or demolish a pub lawfully within the prescribed 56 day period.

Continued on page 12 8

West Berks Brewery artwork to follow

National News - continued

Extra government money has been announced for schemes to support community ownership of pubs. Already, more than £50m has been invested by communities in the past year, and the government estimates this year will see 150 new community-owned enterprises, including pubs. Now, up to £200,000 is being made available from the Community Shares Unit (CSU) for groups trying to buy a pub or other building listed as an ACV. The CSU supports groups to use community shares as a way of financing projects such as the takeover of pubs, with more than £50 million raised over the past three years. In addition, a further £100,000 has been given to the Pub is The Hub, which is helping landlords diversify and provide essential services for their local communities such as village shops and post offices. And any group which has successfully nominated a pub as an ACV can apply to the Department for Communities and Local Government for a certificate to display in the listed pub.

It was widely reported at the time, but bears repeating. In early April the owners of a historic London pub, the Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale, demolished it without planning permission. They have since been ordered to rebuild it, brick by brick. The council issued an unprecedented enforcement notice that the pub is to be ‘recreate in facsimile the building as it stood immediately prior to its demolition’. The owners, Tel Aviv-based developers CLTX Ltd, ordered bulldozers in to reduce the early 1920s building to rubble earlier this month after staff were told to stay at home - for a stock inventory! It is thought this is the first instance of a local council ordering a building be reconstructed from the ground up.

More than 200 years brewing in Blackburn is to end since Daniel Thwaites has sold its beer business to Marston in a cash deal worth more than £25m. The deal includes two ales,

National News - continued

Wainwright and Lancaster Bomber, as well as most of the firm’s 150-strong team of sales, marketing and distribution staff. Some brewing will be retained in Blackburn on the company’s Crafty Dan microbrewing plant, which was installed in 2011.

Marston’s has been brewing most of Thwaites beers since early last year and will continue to contract brew some of the Thwaites beers it didn’t buy. In 2013, Thwaites announced the closure of its 200-year-old main brewery in Blackburn, saying it planned to relocate the brewery. However the plans to move looked doomed when a deal to redevelop the Blackburn site as a Sainsbury’s shopping development foundered.

And now an advert.

Many of us enjoy a day out in the Capital exploring the excellent pubs and drinking opportunities. In fact in this very magazine there’s an article recording (yet another) SOX expedition around there, this time around Acton. An invaluable aid to these jaunts is the ‘CAMRA Guide to London’s Best Beer, Pubs and Bars’ by Des de Moor, the 2nd edition of which will be available by the time you read this. This presents the essential guide to beer drinking in London. Completely revised for 2015, it’s is packed with detailed maps and easy-to-use listings. Features tell you more about London's rich history of brewing and the city's vibrant modern brewing scene, where well-known brands rub shoulders with tiny micro-breweries and brewery numbers have quintupled in the last four years.

Order it from CAMRA at www.camra.org.uk/shop at £12.99, or the CAMRA members’ price of £10.99.

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Woodcote Rally Beer List

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H a Bi pp rt y hd 50 ay th !

Maris Otter 50

Maris Otter Barley Despite reaching 50 and being the best known barley malt, Maris Otter remains a specialist variety. It makes up less than 6% of the barley used to create brewing malts. There are now more than 1,400 breweries in Britain and three new ones are opening each week. Consequently, interest in ingredients is increasing and the demand for quality malt and hop varieties is growing rapidly.

There was a lot of work to do to re-establish the purity of the strain and the process of “re-selection” played a crucial role. It involved manually picking out the purest stock and using it to start a new breeding cycle.

H Banham has continued to follow the practice, using a secret field in the wilds of North Norfolk dedicated to maintaining the integrity of the variety. They regularly take a 30 m2 patch of special ‘mother’ field and go through it manually, checking each and every ear of barley. Anything that isn’t a perfect specimen of Maris Otter is discarded. The remaining flawless grain from that patch is harvested separately and used to reseed the mother field.

Within seven years the majority of the Maris Otter grown in Britain will have originated from this secret plot.

H Banham Ltd is a well-established, family-run agricultural merchant business based in Hempton just outside Fakenham. From its beginnings as a smallholding raising pigs and poultry in the late 19th century, the business has developed and grown and has been trading grain since the 1960s. http://www.h-banham.co.uk/

Malting is the process by which cereal grain (usually, but not always, barley) is processed. It involves partially germinating the grain so that it is ready to convert its starches into sugar during the brewing process which can then be used by the yeast to produce alcohol.

Bottled ale sales are increasing at around 10% a year and premium cask sales by around 4% - with specialist beers even going up even faster. In the ten years to 2003 an average of 25,000 tonnes a year of Maris Otter barley was bought by maltsters, whereas in the 10 years to 2013 this had grown to 34,500 tonnes a year. That’s an increase of nearly 40%.

Maris Otter is now exported to over 20 countries worldwide.

Maris Otter is a low-nitrogen winter barley (sown in the autumn and harvested a few weeks before the spring varieties), cross-bred from Proctor and Pioneer in 1965 by the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge. Its popularity grew quickly and it dominated the market throughout the 1970s. However, by the late 80s it had fallen out of favour with many of the larger breweries and in 1989 was taken off the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) recommended list.

Bear artwork to follow

Despite the snub and the fall in volumes, a number of brewers remained loyal to the breed.

They said the malt it produced performed excellently in the mash tun, and the resulting beers had a depth of flavour unmatched by those made with other malts. This commitment from a small group of brewers encouraged grain merchants H Banham and Robin Appel in their quest to save the variety. Between them, in 1992, the merchants bought the rights to it and they are still the sole owners.

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Ale drinking in Acton

Another edition of SoxonAle, and another pub crawl around London. Well, when you live less than an hour from the greatest city in the world with its almost limitless opportunities for visiting interesting pubs and sampling new and exciting ales the temptation is hard to resist. And generally we don’t try. SOX veteran beer-hound Roy Denison designed another crawl, again in an area that is away from the more well-trodden parts of central London.

As in previous trips it made good use of the One-Day Travelcard to go by train, tube and bus. This one started in Ealing, progressed through Acton then and ended in Shepherds Bush. So one chilly day in March we caught the train to Ealing Broadway from where it’s a short walk to...

George and Dragon - W3 9DJ

Ale-Drinking In Acton The Red Lion [W5 5RA]. This is a Good Beer Guide accredited Fullers tied house opposite the Ealing Film Studios. Originally, Ealing Studios had five stages and the pub was nicknamed ‘Stage 6’. So not surprisingly the walls are covered with black and white photos of mainly British screen stars of yesteryear who have appeared in Ealing films. Going round trying to recognise them makes for an interesting impromptu pub quiz. The beers are from the Fullers range, with a guest. So whereas it’s not a must-see pub, it is a very good one and worth visiting if you’re in the area. www.redlionealing.co.uk An indirect walk back towards the station took us to the Sir Michael Balcon [W5 3TJ].

This is a Wetherspoon pub and another Good Beer Guide entry. The cinema connection is maintained since it’s named after a famous Ealing Studios producer and his life and work feature on the pub walls. Unexpectedly, there are also references to Blondin the tightrope walker - famous for walking over the Niagara Falls and who died in Ealing in less spectacular circumstances. Our visit coincided with Spoon’s two-week spring beer festival. This one featured a number of ales from overseas that had been brewed in the UK just for this event.

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The results were mixed. Hightail Ale (4.5%ABV), originally from the Australian brewery Mountain Goat and brewed over here by Hook Norton, was ok but pretty bland really. On the other hand, Adnam had brewed Californian Breakfast Ale (4.8%ABV) from the US brewery Golden Road and this was stunningly horrible. In a blind tasting you’d think someone had emptied an ashtray into a glass of cold water. Fortunately it wasn’t me that bought it. www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-sir-michael-balcon A short bus ride to Acton High Street took us to another Spoons, the Red Lion & Pineapple [W3 9BP]. This is a large pub on a busy corner. Spoon’s beer festival was in full swing here too. Deciding to steer clear of copies of foreign beers, I tried Windsor & Eton’s Zinzan’s Drop (4%ABV) a black bitter with better results. As a point of interest, there’s a plaque let into the pavement near the pub announcing that Waite, Rose & Taylor opened the first Waitrose there in 1904. It’s currently the Babylon Pizza. www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-red-lion-pineapple A short walk took us to what proved to be the main event: the Aeronaut [W3 9BH]. This is an astonishing pub which has to be seen to be believed. An imposing former Truman Handbury & Buxton house, it’s now the home of the Laine Brewery and sells a selection of pub-brewed and Brighton-brewed beers. The brewery is situated right behind the bar and can easily be seen. Where to start .... Well, Louis Bleriot was the first chap to fly the channel in an aeroplane and a large model of his monoplane is attached to the ceiling in the bar. The large adjacent functions room features regular circuses, in addition to more mainstream fare such as stand-up comedy. The circus theme is maintained in the large patio garden with tables housed in brightly painted covered booths labelled ‘shooting gallery’ and the like. Back inside you can amuse yourselves by photographing each other with your head poking through pictures of an astronaut or a dancing girl. The beers are good too: the in-house porter at 4.7%ABV was superb. On top of this you can have an excellent burger for £5! It hardly needs stating, but this is also in the Good Beer Guide. www.aeronaut.pub Aeronaut front and garden Reluctantly leaving the Aeronaut, a few metres walk along the High Street took Continued on page 19 17

Ale drinking in Acton - continued

The Crown Inn, Pishill is a 15th century former Coaching Inn & thatched Barn (near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire) ideal for Weddings and Wedding receptions.

Situated close to the magnificent parkland of Stonor House, in the heart of the Chilterns, people come from near-and-far to enjoy dinner, a light lunch, or just a finely kept pint of beer.

With log fires in the winter and the picturesque beer garden in the summer, The Crown Inn is a welcoming English country pub for all seasons.

Food Service Lunch: 12pm to 2:30pm Wed - Sat, 12pm to 3pm Sun and 12pm to 2:30pm on Bank Holidays. Dinner: 6.30pm to 9pm Wed & Thurs and 6:30pm to 9:30pm Fri & Sat.

us to the George & Dragon [W3 9DJ]. This is an 18th century pub, now a free house and home of the Dragonfly Brewery. The modestly-sized, though attractive frontage hides the fact that the pub goes back a long way to the huge bar area at the back, dominated by the 10-barrel plant. The brewing kit looks very impressive with brightly polished copper and stainless steel. But away from the bar you’re back in the 1700s with low ceilings and dark wood panelling. Three home brewed beers are on handpump and other ‘craft’ beers are available on keg together with an unusual cider. Laine’s Dark Matter (4.3%ABV) was very good indeed. This is a fantastic pub and well worth making the effort to visit. But with the Aeronaut just down the road, the people of Acton are really being spoiled. http://dragonflybrewery.co.uk The 207 bus took us to the final destination in Shepherd Bush Market: the Defector’s Weld [W12 8AA]. This is a large busy pub, also in the Good Beer Guide, with mainly guest beers including Truman's Runner, Old Dairy and others. Less mind-blowing than the previous two, but a good bet if you’re in the area and for us a suitable jumping-off spot for the journey home. www.defectors-weld.com Paul Dixon

All our dishes are home-made and cooked fresh using local produce where possible.

The Crown Inn, Pishill, Henley-On-Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 6HH

For reservations and enquiries please call 01491 638364 www.thecrowninnpishill.co.uk

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Live Brewing

If you love beer...

It’s always amazing to hear the new ideas that come out during conversation over a pint of beer in a pub: even more so when the idea comes to fruition. So it was during a cold winter’s day in front of the fire at the Plum Pudding when landlord Jez Hill and I agreed that the pub’s next beer festival would include a live brewing demonstration.

The world of microbrewing is a popular one at the moment and for those of us that love beer it’s a great opportunity to taste a wide variety of ales. I started my microbrewery, Lovebeer, as a hobby and now produce up to three 9-gallon firkins a week which I sell directly to pubs, or take to festivals. Brewing is enjoyable and can be very rewarding, but little did I know it was about to become even more fun.

bands. The weekend is a whirlwind of activity and I set up the temporary brewery in one of the outbuildings in the walled garden, next to the racks of barrels.

I learned five things during the festival: Always have a wingman. Not only do you have to brew, but we had crowds of people asking great questions and taking a general interest in what we were doing. We also had some free beer samples as part of my market research into what drinkers like in a beer.

Always print more T-shirts. This was a first attempt at producing merchandise which was decent quality and fun for the event.

Smell, touch and taste. Clearly one of the aims of the demo was to promote ale but what really hit home was the fact that people loved the aromas of the barley while it was steeping and then the various hops as the sweet wort was boiled. We also had boxes of malt and hops out for people to roll in their hands and really experience the difference in flavours available.

Broadway artwork to follow

Brewing is a simple process that has been around for thousands of years, and the basis of any decent beer remains: water, yeast, barley and hops. The secret is all in the variations to the brew process and now we have a wider range of ingredients available than ever before.

For instance, my Dr Roo pale ale (3.7%ABV) uses English malted barley but English, American and New Zealand hops.

The Plum Pudding beer festival is only in its second year but is already well known and popular with over 18 ales, a BBQ and several live

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Be prepared for people’s opinion, whether you want it or not. I had some great conversations and feedback throughout the two days. Nothing quite prepares you for the ale enthusiast telling you what he or she thinks of your beer! But for one stag party who tasted my Purdy Peculiar dark bitter (4.3%ABV) I had great satisfaction from the comment ‘I don’t drink dark beers…. [glug, glug] … ohh that’s nice isn’t it?’

If you like beer festivals and want to try to sample the main event then wait until you have finished your own brewing. Fortunately with all the help I had from friends and family we got all the work done.

After an exhausting but cracking weekend we plan to do more of this: just because it’s fun!

Jim Southey Lovebeer Brewery

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The Microbrewery Revolution Breaks Out In Cuba

Most people associate Cuba with rum and enormous cigars, not beer. But we can report that Havana now has its very own microbrewery – the Factoria Plaza Vieja. It operates out of a very handsome building, in the Spanish colonial style, in one corner of the eponymous square, the Plaza Vieja. The beers are brewed in a handsome copper plant behind the bar.

The brewery produces three beers though, sadly, they are in the ‘craft’ (well, keg) style. They are cloudy (presumably intentionally) and designated ‘light’, ‘dark’ and ‘black’. To be honest, there’s not a massive difference in flavour between the three, but they are a pretty reasonable drop and very welcome in Havana’s heat. For the record, the most common beer in Cuba is a pretty average lager called Crystal. Slightly less common, but better, is the stronger Bucanero.

Our Man in Havana also reports that: The average number of legs per Cuban seems somewhat less than most other places.

The state of the roads is not much worse than we have to put up with in South Oxfordshire.

Unlike South Oxfordshire, there’s hardly any rubbish strewn along the roads.

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Traditional Family Run Village Pub Four Cask Marque Beers Award Winning Restaurant 7 Station Road, Lower Shiplake, Henley on Thames, Oxon. RG9 3NY Tel: 01189 403332 enquiries@thebaskerville.com www.thebaskerville.com